Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My people, including my Auntie Marlynn, were very busy this past Saturday. Do not feel sorry for me that they left me alone in the house. It was a big day for me also because they let me have the full run of the house while they were gone. You see, while they are at work, I spend my days in my own bedroom with a full bath, cable TV (Animal Planet is my favorite), Wi-Fi (except I cannot type…no thumbs), breakfast, water, my own bed, toys and a Dingo bone. Come to think of it, this is not too bad of a gig either. Anyways, I cannot share with you what it was like to have the run of the house because they will probably never leave me loose again. My friends, Lokie, Dakota, Neo, Betty, Yoda, Divot and Homey have all been sworn to secrecy. So since I cannot share my adventures, I let Mommy share hers.

Our day started out visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit at the National Geographic in Washington, DC. China’s first Emperor Qin Shihuangdi needed an army of terra cotta figures to go with him into the afterlife. This army included armor, chariots and horses. Initially, 1,000 terra cotta figures were found. But, it is believed the number could actually be around 7,000. The detail in the figures is absolutely amazing and hard to believe these pieces were created more than 2,000 years ago. I am still trying to figure out how big the kiln was they used to fire a 400 pound terra cotta horse figure and how did they heat it?

Afterward, we hopped on the Metro and headed over to Ben’s Chili Bowl for a half-smoke. Well, Marlynn and Phil had the half-smokes and I tried the chili dog. If you are ever in the DC Metro area, Ben’s is local landmark you should not miss.

Finally, Auntie Marlynn and I met some of the girls at Scrapbooks Plus for a “A Crop to Die For” murder mystery theatre (and crop). The mystery theatre featured scrapbooker extraordinaire “Kiki Lowenstein.” Kiki is the amateur sleuth who stars in Paper, Scissors, Death and Cut, Crop & Die. We had the pleasure to meet, Joanna Campbell Slan, the author of these two fun books. Joanna is absolutely one of the sweetest folks you will ever meet. I use the word “folks” because I found Joanna and I have two things in common. One, she was born in Jacksonville, FL (automatically I must love her) and two, she loves the South.After we solved the murder mystery, which I won the grand prize (well, eight others and I solved the murder), Joanna spent some time autographing books and visiting with each guest. Southern ladies know how to work a room!